Night at the Museum(s)

Apparently, there are over 50 museums in Budapest. And for the last six years, to celebrate the summer solstice, Budapest's museums open after hours for a special program where people visit several museums between 6 pm and 2 am for a minimal price. Originally, I thought it was free but apparently I was mistaken. The price ended up being less than the price of one entrance fee to a museum and we were able to see five museums, so, it's definitely worth it.

I met my new friend Lisa and two of her friends - Justin and Michelle. Lisa is an American teacher who is going to start running, swimming and doing Bikram Yoga with me this summer. Actually, this week we're finally going to try Bikram Yoga! I can't wait to get some good core training with this!

Our first museum was the House of Terror. I've been here in the past, and let me tell you, folks, it's difficult to stomach. It’s also very hard to imagine that in this very building hundreds of thousands of people were tortured during both the German and Soviet occupations in Hungary. The secret police for both regimes housed their questioning and torture chambers here. It’s quite morbid and at the same time they have incredible video coverage playing of Hitler, interrogations for one of their famous resistance leaders Imre Nagy and others, as well as recent video interviews with people who are now in their 70s and lived through that time. The most moving for me was the interview with a Jewish man who was paraded through the city with other Jews and taken away to a camp. Obviously he survived but he talks about the feeling of wondering if you'll ever travel back through that road again.

Here's a picture of the wall that covers all four stories of the building - filled with victims of the German and Russian regimes. Near the end of the tour, there is a room dedicated to the faith of those who triumphed over communism. Specifically Hungarians are thankful to a Hungarian Catholic cardinal who stood up to the regime and fought for liberty. Interesting. I love it.

Our second museum was the Museum of Modern Art. "What's Up?" Is the hanging title for the museum and we decided to take pictures. Inside the museum it was strange. It's amazing some of the things people call "art". For example, Lisa and I walked over to this clump on the wall and it was a bunch of rocks glued together. OK, whatever. I could do that. But interesting nonetheless. One room was called "Room o fart" and there was literally trash all over the place and a disco strobe light. Whatever floats your boat, I guess.




But there were some really funny things too! This guys rendition of taking public transportation and elevators/escalators/etc and doing it for exercise was classic funny. I took a few pictures of the display regarding public transportation.





Other displays were incredible, like this display of log wood.








Our third museum was the Museum of Classical Art. I've been to this Museum as well over two years ago when there was a Van Gogh display. For me, rooms and rooms of old Catholic art with boobies, buts and fat angel babies just doesn't do it for me. However, there was a quartet playing jazz music in the center of the museum with a woman who had an amazing voice, and that was incredible.

I was really excited about our fourth museum, the Transportation Museum.



I run by this museum all the time and have always wanted to go inside. The Museum houses the history of ships, trains, planes, cars, bikes and covered wagons/coaches. It was really interesting and fun! This full size ship display (although a bit unclear) is something I see almost every day when I run. It was great to be inside and see the history of ships. They also had bikes and fun advertisement posters dating all the way back to 1926.




Our fifth and final museum was the museum of natural art. I hung out with all the stuffed animals and read all of their descriptions, looking on the map to see where they are primarily located in the world. That was amazing, especially since there are so many different kinds of animals and many of them only live in certain parts of the earth. There was also a few displays on Coral Reefs which I found interesting.

We didn't make it to 2 am and I rolled into the flat at 1:15 am. My French friends weren't back yet but arrived a few minutes after I did. They never ended up joining us for the museum night but met their other couch surfing friend in the city.

This afternoon I'm going to try and either get a run or swim in. It's really hot in the city today already and it's not even 10 am! Tonight I was invited to my friend, Arlissa's art display in the city. Can't wait to see what that will be like. She came last Spring from North Carolina to do an art internship for three months and now she's back in the states. But I met her art instructor/coordinator and she invited me to come to see Arlissa's art on display! That should be great.